What If
by Mrs.Cullen0118
Summary: Bella's life in Phoenix was slightly different than we remember, so are her circumstances for coming to Forks. In fact there's a little one she's carrying. While trying to avoid any attachments in Forks she just so happens to meet Edward Cullen. Everything remains the same other than a few characters added. Normal pairings.
1. Chapter 1

What If

**Hey everyone! I've been taking writing classes, and even considering it as a career. So I have to say my writing pre-high school was humiliating. But regardless I love these characters and want to re explore the story line I came up with as a little seventh grader. Some things have changed so I can make it work of course. Bella moves to Forks a little early, and I added in a few details of Ryan adding to the future of this series. Thank you all for your ongoing support, I'll forever be grateful **

A lot had happened in Bella Swan's seventeen years of life. Her parents had divorced before her first birthday, she'd moved to Arizona, went from having no friends to being one of the most popular girls in school, making a full circle and eventually becoming the school slut. Except she wasn't a slut. Slut was a label high schoolers gave to girls who slept with more than one guy and to the pregnant girls. Bella just so happened to be the pregnant girl. And in her own defense she'd only ever been with one guy. So the name calling didn't really bother her. What name bothered her was liar. Which she wasn't. Nobody besides her own mother believed Ryan hit her. He hadn't laid a finger on her since she was pulled from school. But she was hopeful a new school would help things.

It was Forks, Washington where Bella would find her new start. That was where she was actually from, living there only a short time in the summer with her father. Growing close with her mother and the hot weather her and her father never had been close. Of course she loved him and didn't mind moving to be with him, it was just the fact that her mother wouldn't be there for the last few months of her pregnancy and she'd most likely have to figure the whole mom thing out on her own. Knowing this she had quite possibly read every single pregnancy and mom book there was in the Phoenix Public Library. Despite being young she wanted to do the best she could for this baby.

Becoming a mom had never been on her list of things to do but after finding out she was pregnant, being a mom seemed right. The first thought however had been in fact to get an abortion. How could she bring a child into this world when the father was an abusive asshole? The appointment had been scheduled and nobody knew except her. It would be as if it was never there. Unable to sleep the night before she found herself rubbing the barely noticeable bump. Somehow in that moment there was a thought of guilt and being responsible for this little person's life. The mere thought scared the shit out of her, it also made her realize there was no way in hell this little one could ever not be apart of her life now.

That was back in July, now it was November. Her little one was sixteen weeks old, only about the size of an avocado. Thankfully Bella found herself getting used to actually being pregnant. The morning sickness finally started to go away, and if she paid attention for a few moments at the right time she could feel her little one moving around slightly. They weren't kicks or strong flips, just subtle flutters. The only way she could describe it to anyone who wasn't pregnant was saying it felt like a little fishy was swimming in your stomach. Being pregnant was one of those things you can't describe. You just need to experience it yourself.

"You need to call me right after you find out what little one is. Buying yellow isn't as fun." Renee complained while they shopped. Forks was much different than Phoenix all year round. Right now Bella and her mother were dressed in jeans and a short sleeve. Where in Forks everyone would probably be bundled up in coats and boots.

Holding up a set of white onesies she threw them in the cart. "Do they have lots of places in Washington to get baby stuff?" Other than a few small things, she had almost nothing for this baby.

Thinking back to her days in Forks Renee remembered a few tiny shops in Port Angeles. "Your dad will have to take you out to Seattle for the big stuff." She hadn't been too fond of the idea of Bella moving to Forks being pregnant. Either was her daughter, it wasn't her type of place. "It'll be fun sweetie, I guarantee you'll make friends. Everyone in small towns are friendly. Unlike here where they all have sticks up their butts."

Together the two shared a laugh, only making Bella realize how much she was truly going to miss her mom. She'd even miss her mom's husband, Phil. Life was simple here. Or it was simple here. "You're gonna come up when I have little one, right?"

As much as she wanted to say absolutely, it wasn't guaranteed. Phil was possibly getting signed for a different baseball team and that meant they'd be moving around. Plus she wanted to help out her daughter money wise. Flying to Forks on short notice might not be in her budget. "You know how hard I'll try my love."

Almost everything in her room remained where it was. At her dad's house the room was a good enough size. This of course meant she needed to save any room left for the baby's things. It was hard to believe tonight was her last night in Arizona. This state had been her home most of her life, actually all her life. Forks never felt like home when she visited, and all she could think about while in Forks was going home. For the sake of little one she was gonna love it there, it was their best chance.

"You don't have to do this honey." Renee felt sick to her stomach in the airport that morning. Sending your child off no matter how old was always hard. Plus she had no idea when she'd see her next. "We can make it work."

No matter how badly she wanted to say yes, she knew it wasn't gonna work. Placing her mom's hand on her stomach Bella offered up a smile. "It's gonna be good for us in Forks. Charlie will love having me. Go have fun mom. I love you forever."

At times like this she knew Bella would make a good mom. Minus the party stage she'd recently been through her little girl was mature and acted much older than she was. "You're gonna do really good. Love you."

Flying while pregnant was not her cup of tea. At the moment with only ten minutes left of her last flight Bella felt about nine months along. She'd chugged about four bottles of water on each plane, going pee more than five times. Everyone on the flight gave her rude looks each time she came to sit down. Being pregnant at such a young age was looked down upon by most adults although it happened way to often. Bella was determined to not be a stereotypical teenage mother. After telling her mom and talking things through they came up with a list of conditions to keep the baby. Stay in school, get a job, not depend on others all the time, and graduate. She planned on doing all those things and exceeding at her job of being a mom.

Happy that the flight was over Bella still couldn't find herself enjoying the day. It was late, rainy and there was still an hour left until she'd be "home." Since Forks was so small the closest place to fly in was an entire hour out of the way. The car ride alone with Charlie would be awkward. The last time she'd seen him was last summer and not pregnant. She wasn't the one who even told him, Renee had immediately called him up. His reaction wouldn't have been anything close to what her mom's had been. There were tears and plenty of hugs. If it'd been her father he most likely would've walked away then later talked about it quickly. The whole trouble of expressing emotions and being comfortable in social situations had been traits inherited from him.

"Hey Bells! Welcome home!" He of course showed up in his police uniform, meaning he'd have the cruiser with him too. Word probably had gotten out how Charlie Swan's pregnant daughter was finally coming back, meaning the first day of school there would be plenty of staring already. Well at least people wouldn't be asking if she was pregnant or just fat. It happened before only making her wish her bump would grow so it'd be obvious.

Hugging her father from the side she faked a smile. He seemed genuinely happy about having her here and was willing to let a newborn interrupt his sleep. The least she could do was try to be happy here. "Hey Dad." Trying subtly she watched his eyes look down at her tiny belly. He didn't want to make it to obvious. Giggling she placed her hand down at the bottom, cradling it. "Meet your grandson or granddaughter."

As they walked to get her three suitcases he asked different questions about her pregnancy. He shocked her with all his knowledge about babies and having one. Most men just knew how to make a baby and then left the rest to the women. Charlie was different. He paid attention to things just kept quiet about it. They were alike that way. "You've got a few more weeks til you find out what it is?"

"Yeah, kinda feel like it's a girl. Don't take my word for it though." It was just a feeling. She tried not to focus on the gender, although deep down she wanted a little boy. Either one she'd just be happy with a healthy smart baby.

While silently riding back to Forks she noted how pretty it actually was up here. There was plenty of forest, never ending space. Compared to Arizona this was the perfect place to raise a child. You never heard of anything bad happening here let alone hearing about the town. Her baby would be safe here. She didn't have to worry about someone breaking in or a shooting at school.

Thankfully it was late and not only was she tired but her dad was too. That meant she'd have her privacy tonight and wouldn't need to worry about being talkative. For now her suit cases would remain untouched, and for the first time she'd sleep soundly in her new home before her first day at Forks High School.

Waking up was always the hardest thing to do, for Bella anyways. It seemed like little one was ready for the day before it even started. Her body wasn't even her own anymore, yet she was okay with it. She'd been trying to eat healthier and make better choices knowing all of them affected her baby. Showering she went over the clothes she'd brought and what to wear. Did she wear a tight shirt to show off her bump? Or should she hide it? While debating over what to wear she decided to leave her hair down, slowly her face was getting chunkier meaning whenever her hair was up you could totally tell. Wanting time to eat breakfast her outfit consisted of a plain gray t-shirt and a pair of stretchy jeans. The much needed coat would cover up her baby bump if that felt necessary. Charlie had already left for work before she'd gotten in the shower. He also surprised her with a truck, it'd come from a friend. "Figured you'd need a way to get to your appointments and school." She was thankful considering the weather here was unpredictable here and walking everywhere would suck. The thing was old, nineteen fifties old and red. Regardless it was her car and she loved the thing.

Forks High School was much smaller than her school in Arizona. There were so many people you could never learn everyone's names. Here she figured by senior year she could at least recognize everyone in this school if not at least have most names memorized. At the moment she couldn't decide if that was a good thing. Her truck didn't stand out at all, other than a few nicer cars in the parking lot. At least the only thing she'd be judged on was the baby growing in her stomach. "Ready to go little one? I guess we don't really have a choice." There was comfort in talking to her baby, the doctors also said it would help them bond. It didn't really matter she thought, there was someone growing in her body and would be for nine months. If that didn't create a bond she didn't know what would.

The air was cold and it was an extremely cloudy day, not a sign of the sun. Cloudy with a chance of everyone staring at her. In the mail they had sent her a map of how to get around the small place. Right near the welcome sign was the entrance and to her left was the office. Sitting at the desk was an older lady, a sign in front of her let Bella know her name was Mrs. Cope. The lady she needed to get her schedule from. "You must be Isabella Swan."

"I prefer Bella, but yeah." Most people made the common misconception of using her full name.

Like so many others the lady's eyes struggled to stay above her stomach. Eventually they just went straight down to the protruding bump. "My bad. We hope you feel very welcome here, there's many after school activities available if that's still an option for you, and our student body is so friendly." Its not like she planned on playing tennis before little one anyways but the judgment of the teen mom was rude coming from a teacher she just met. "Here are all your papers and classes. Just have your teachers sign the slip and bring it back here at the end of the day."

Nodding she walked out the door, not ready for her first class. English in building three with Mr. Mason. Moving about the hallways she tried to let her brown hair cover her face, and her jacket cover her bump. "Hi! You must be the new girl Isabella. I'm Eric Yorkie!"

A small Asian boy approached her, full of energy and longer black hair. "Bella." Clearly her dad had been calling her Isabella. She'd be correcting people all day, that and talking about her little one.

"Right, so welcome to Forks High!" After the welcome she began to tune him out while he followed her to English. "...so I'll see ya later Bella!" At least she didn't hear pregnant or baby like expected.

Lack of hearing it from Eric was made up by some girl named Jessica. She was pale, brown hair and brown eyes. She was a simple girl who talked way too much. "You're like so tiny, my cousin like blew up by her fourth month. Totally could tell, you can barely even see the bump." Every few seconds Bella would nod, making it look like she was paying attention when in reality her mind was everywhere but in Forks High School. "We should like hang out super soon, do you know what your baby is?"

"Not yet, my twenty week appointment I should be able to." When it came to talking about little one she couldn't help but smile or slightly gush.

Jessica did this little thing with her head "Oh my god, so cute. How many names do you have picked out? I'm not even pregnant or anything but I have like a long list of names for my kids."

God, this girl said like a lot. "Uh, I was thinking Elijah for a boy and Nikkolette for a girl. I saw it in some magazine and kinda liked it." The bell rung alerting the class it was time to leave, freeing Bella of this girl's questions. It was of course only the beginning. By the time lunch came around she felt like exploding. Their questions were original nor we're any of them genuinely nice, behind the congratulations you could just see their expectations for her future as a teenage mother. And unlucky for Bella, Jessica and a few of her friends decided she _absolutely_ had to sit at their table. This included the dorky kid Eric from earlier, Ben Cheney a nice boy, Angela Webber and this annoying kid Mike. A lot of them avoided conversation about the baby and instead let her in on all the gossip of the school. Who was who, if you should avoid them, and who dated who. None of it interested her, that was until they walked in.

From the side of the lunch room in came five beautiful people, each so different yet so similar. Jess had anticipated the stare Bella Swan gave them, everyone had given them the same the first few weeks after their arrival. "Those are the Cullens. Totally strange, yet everyone worships them." Bella couldn't help but notice the eye roll all the boys at the table gave. "The little one that's Alice Cullen, she's kinda weird. She's with Jasper Hale, he's even weirder." Alice was very small, definitely under five foot with dark pixie hair cut. Somehow the pixie do worked, making her seem fairy like. Jasper stood much taller than his tiny girlfriend. His hair was blonde and curly, longer. His face seemed uncomfortable yet happy. "Emmetts the big guy over there, and him and Roaslie are together." Calling him big was an understatment, not fat or big boned. This guy was muscular and tall, handsome too. There was a sly smile tugging at his lips. Now Rosalie had to be the prettiest girl Bella had ever seen. Even prettier than a model, she had all the features. Tall, skinny, blonde and a strong face. Maybe it was the way she carried herself, either way nobody would ever compete with her. Watching the final Cullen walk in it felt like a movie scene. "And that my dear is Edward Cullen. He happens to be the only one in that family whose single. It also happens that he isn't interested. Don't bother, I mean if he won't date a normal teenager I doubt he'd go for the pregnant girl. No offense."

"Jess..." Angela warned.

It was a complete rude comment, and as much as she tried to not let it bother her,it did. "No it's fine. Wasn't planning on it anyways." Her main focus had to be this baby, not some stupid boy. Yet her eyes couldn't remain at the table she sat at. Instead they kept moving over to the table where the Cullen's sat. Specifically the most handsome. His hair was bronze and swept messily, he was pale like the others and tall. There was something different about him though, and she couldn't pin point it but knew it was special. This whole family was hiding something and Bella needed to know.

The days here seemed longer, maybe because the classes were longer and with the gloomy weather. It seemed like they wanted everyone to know how depressing it was outside, they made you walk to different buildings and the classrooms were plastered with windows. Her Biology room was literally made up of windows and lab tables. Her eyes wandered the room seeing if there were any familiar faces, some she'd seen throughout the day. Already recognizing people scared her. Then she realized what she actually had to be afraid of. Edward Cullen. Having the luck she did (which sucked) he happened to be the only one without a lab partner. Bella wasn't stupid, that meant she'd be stuck sitting next to him. As if on cue Mr. Banner handed her slip back "Welcome Isabella, you'll be sitting next to Mr. Cullen." Sheltering her face she clumsily walked to her table, on the way tripping over her shoe lace. Being pregnant didn't automatically make her not clumsy anymore, if anything it made her worse. By trying to not fall, she seemed to do the exact opposite. Most of the time it was a simple trip and she could catch herself. Today was one of those days. It still didn't stop her from blushing as she sat down.

"Are you okay? I saw you trip." Were the first words she heard come out of his mouth. His voice had taken her by surprise. It was melodic and deep all while remaining calming.

Stuttering Bella placed her hair behind her ear. "Y-yeah I'm used to it. Gotta uh stop doing that." They both shared a nervous laughter, she thought of anything else to say coming up blank. "I'm Bella Swan by the way."

Hearing her name he acted like there was some side joke. "Trust me, I know. Everyone knows who you are." Watching her roll her brown eyes he smiled, it was obvious she detested the attention. "I'm Edward Cullen."

Feeling more comfortable seeing him laugh and smile she joked "I know who you are, everyone knows who you are."

"So you're from Arizona, right?" The conversation turned to casual as they set up for their lab of the day. In the back of her mind she hoped he wasn't trying to weasel out gossip like the rest of the student body.

Nodding she poured the juice into the cup. The lab was seeing how different liquids effect an egg. She'd done it sophomore year, easiest stuff. "Yeah, I lived here when I was a baby. My parents divorced though."

Done way before the rest of the class this left the two to converse freely. "You don't sound happy about that."

"Moving here? I'm not. It was so warm and you never had to worry about wearing a coat." It wasn't the people she missed, other than her mother. But life before little one. "It's only been two days." Bella mumbled under her breath.

Her body language signaled how nervous she was. Edward knew it mightn't been a rude question to ask and couldn't help to ask. "Why'd you come here? Where it's rarely warm and you should carry a coat wherever you go."

Chuckling her hand found itself on her little one. "Arizona wasn't really working out for us." For the first time Bella felt embarrassed being pregnant. There were many times she should've felt like this, and she was ashamed for feeling embarrassed about her baby. Why was this stranger making her feel like this?

Nodding his eyes only glanced down. "Well I hope Forks works out for you two."

"Me too." She thought to herself.

**I hope you all enjoyed :) Leave a review. **


	2. Chapter 2

What If

**Forks might not be that bad...**

Days had passed and rain kept falling. Life had begun to be routine for Bella, school, lunch, more school, homework, dinner, and bed. Somewhere in between all those she also found time to think about Edward Cullen. Over the course of the two weeks they'd become friends almost. He could be classified in that category way more than anyone else. At lunch Jessica's table had taken her under their wing so to speak. Specifically Mike Newton, he'd always sit really close and try to flirt. The kid was obviously desperate considering he was trying to get with the pregnant new girl. It was her goal here not to make many attachments with the people. The baby would be born in April, leaving her only two months until summer. If her plan went like she wanted by the end of the summer she'd be back with her mom wherever they were living. His baseball stuff had been progressing and they were gonna be doing some traveling after Christmas.

"They said something about Florida maybe! Wouldn't that be nice sweetie, spend our days off taking Elijah to the beaches. He'd get to experience so much." Renee gushed on the phone.

Slowly her stomach was getting bigger and bigger. "Mom, I don't find out until Thursday if it's even Elijah."

Secretly she'd been buying blue clothing. There was one pink onesie, just in case. "It's gonna be a little boy Bella I'm telling you. Anyways how is school? Are the kids nice? Any friends?"

Could she really say she had any friends? "Schools, school. Everyone mostly just wants to know about the baby."

"Don't let them get to you honey. They're just curious, it'll die down soon. Don't worry about it Bella. I miss you so much, Phil does to. We have to go though, I love you more than words."

Pushing her homework away for the night Bella said her goodbyes. "I love you too mom, tell Phil I said hi." As the other end went blank and the only noise she could hear was her music softly playing. Still holding the phone up to her ear the question her mother had asked came to mind. The only person she wanted to say was Edward. He was kind to her, didn't always talk about her being pregnant and actually shared the work with her. Maybe it was because he saw her as Bella Swan. Not Bella the pregnant girl from Arizona. She liked him as Edward Cullen. Not Edward Cullen the mysterious guy who won't date anyone here. That was the first night, of many that Bella dreamed of him.

Thursday morning approached fast, of course there had been no sleep the night before. Her nerves were insane. It was always nerve wracking going to these appointments, never knowing what could happen. At the same time it was exciting getting to see your baby and hear their little heart beat. Today's appointment of course held a different meaning. She'd find out if Elijah or Nikkolette was hiding out in her belly. Charlie promised he'd try to make it if he could get the time off but she wasn't counting on it. But first she had to get through the school day.

Walking into lunch she was anticipating the doctors appointment in two hours. The only thing she could manage to eat was an apple and her third water bottle of the day. She'd had enough of Jess today, her false excitement was overwhelming. "I bet it's a girl Bella! She's gonna be so cute. So exciting oh my god!" That might possibly have been the only thing to come out of that girl's mouth. Sitting at the table might amplify those false words, largely contributed by Angela sitting at their table. Slowly she realized that Angela was the only genuine girl in this school, and Jess was fake around her. Not talking a lot let you see things a lot better.

Edward sat at his table with the fake lunch sitting in front of him. While his siblings discussed various things happening in their lives he found himself disinterested. Bella walked in carrying an apple and water, dread written on her face. The only time they ever talked was in biology but they'd smile at each other in the halls. He knew what today was for her, she'd mentioned something about it yesterday since she'd be leaving halfway through their biology class. Unsure of why he was doing this he stood up and walked over to her. Wrapping his cold arm around her back he asked "Do you wanna come sit with me and my family today? My sister Alice has been dying to meet you."

How did she get so lucky? "Yeah, that'd be kinda great. Thank you." Walking by his side she approached the table, hiding in her coat. They were all so beautiful, compared to them she felt like a drowned rat. Despite she tried to keep a smile on her face, didn't want her only friend's family to hate her.

"Bella, this is my family. Alice, Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie. Everyone this is Bella."

Waving she sat down closest to Edward, the smaller Cullen was on the other side of her. "So congratulations on your baby Bella. You find out what it is today right?" It seemed to be more of a statement than a question.

Still Bella answered, keeping her eyes on Edward. "Yeah, two hours. I think it's a girl but other times I think it's a boy. Can't decide." She tried to be funny, or at least keep conversation going.

Alice shot a look to her brother, rolling his eyes she giggled. "Well, it's just a feeling but I have to say you're gonna have a little girl"

Emmett played along. "If I were you I wouldn't bet against Alice, she's always right."

Looking across the table at the girl Rosalie felt completely jealous, which was a rare thing. Normally it was the other way around. She had everything, beauty, looks, and a great husband. And Bella comes over here, instantly giving her the feeling in her stomach. There was a baby growing inside her, and in a few short months she'd be a mother. The one thing she'd give up all that she had for, the one thing she'd never experience. Pushing past the jealousy Rose wanted to get to know her, know about her pregnancy. "Are you excited?"

"Yeah, I can actually buy pink or blue stuff instead of yellow and white."

Smiling Alice's eyes lite up as she grabbed onto Bella's arm. The coldness of her touch made her shudder for just a moment. Recovering she turned to give her a smile. "We'll have to go shopping together, there's so many boutiques in Seattle. We're gonna be such good friends."

"Not only would I not bet against Alice, I'd also go shopping with her or face her wrath." Emmett laughed, causing the entire table to chuckle along. "I'm being serious Bella."

Lunch continued on with various conversations, and Bella found herself enjoying the company of the Cullens. After a while she was even comfortable just talking with them, Rosalie and Jasper were quiet but still were fun. Emmett was loud and funny, while Alice was girly and friendly in a non annoying way.

On their way to biology, the two walked together earning stares from their fellow classmates. The only people the Cullens ever talked to were the Cullens. For the new girl to come in and change that made them all question things. "I'm sorry about my family, they can be...overwhelming especially Alice. And you don't have to go shopping or be friends with her."

Reaching the door Bella remembered how loud and squealy the tiniest Cullen could be, even in a thirty minute lunch period. "No, I like your sister. Your entire family is really nice. Must be fun having a big family like that."

"Yeah, sometimes annoying but I'm really happy to have them. You don't have any brothers or sisters right?"

As a little girl she would ask her mother for a brother or a sister, the older she got the more she realized it wasn't likely. "No, my mom just remarried Phil and Charlie hasn't been with anyone since my mom I think." Never once during her visits was their any girlfriends, just them two. However Renee had many different boyfriends over the years. Some were nicer than others, and finally she found her current husband and it looked like things were going to work. "You're all adopted right?"

Most of their conversations weren't as deep as they were today, yet here they were. "For the most part, Jasper and Rose are Esme's niece and nephew. Their parents died a few years back so they live with us. I've been with Carlisle and his wife for a long time now, we all think of them as our mother and father anyways. They do a lot for us all."

Sometime he talked so proper and formal, nothing like anyone else here. Bella thought it was kind of strange and weird but at the same time she'd learned it was apart of his personality. Part of his charm. "That's really kind of them, you must love them a lot." Bella had no idea why she said that, it was personal business.

He didn't pause or even think about the question that'd been asked. "Yes, I can never be thankful enough for their help." The smile and look on his face didn't argue against his words. You couldn't deny how much those people meant to him despite not being biologically his parents. Most of the time blood didn't even matter when it came to family. "I believe it's time for you to go, Bella."

Looking down to her pass she noticed how quickly the class had passed by talking with Edward. Being able to lose track of time while talking to someone was rare these days, none the less she felt thankful for finding somebody like this. "Oh, better get going. Thanks for today, beats sitting with Mike and Jessica."

"Anytime. Good luck at your appointment."

God his smile made her stomach flip, and it wasn't little one. Truly it was this boy sitting across from her. "See ya tomorrow."

Edward Cullen was something else, truly. He was gorgeous, nice and funny at times. He didn't just talk to her to get information from her, and his family treated her good to. Shaking her head Bella needed to knock this off. The only reason she was in Forks was for this baby, no distractions. And she didn't want to ruin this friendship by developing feelings for him. It couldn't happen. Besides, she though to herself, he's this great person and I'm just the pregnant girl. Why would he want me? Today and the next eighteen years of her life were going to be on little one.

Checking into the front desk Bella sat down in the chairs, drinking more water. Her bladder felt like it was going to explode, her mom told her that was a good thing. She was pretty sure with a baby in her uterus feeling like you were going to go off in ten seconds wasn't a good thing. There were tons of pamphlets around the office, single parenting, baby's with diseases, and dealing with still birth. The doctors and the nurses talk to you about pregnancy, birth, after care, and the possibility of not bringing your little one home from the hospital. So many things could happen during the nine months you carry them in your stomach, and even after they're in the world. Nothing was scarier than waking up some days and not knowing what could happen before you fall asleep. She had expressed her anxieties to her mother about losing this baby and Renee soothed them a little bit. "Sweetie, you're doing an amazing thing. There's a little person growing in you and this is not only your body now, but there's too. And you're scared, I'm scared too. You can't live your life scared though, this isn't an exception. So be as happy as you can because little one's gonna be happy too. We'll make it through this." Her mother could be erratic and hair-brained, sometimes immature but she could count on her to be there when it mattered.

"Isabella Swan." The nurse dressed in pink scrubs came out, she had dark brown curly hair and bright blue eyes. "I'm Annie, I'll be your nurse for the duration of your pregnancy. And it says here your eighteen weeks along?"

The hospital and OBGYN office's/setups were much different here. It was funny to her how you travel a few states away and everything is different. They had an entire different building for the OBGYN's in Phoenix. "It's Bella, and yeah just barely eighteen weeks. I'll be able to find out the gender today the doctor told me?"

Annie began walking her forward towards the room, outside was a scale. So far she'd only gained about seven pounds over the eighteen week course. Reading over ten books made her a worry wart, causing her to buy a book called "The Baby Bump." It was organized by months and left spaces to fill out many details including slots to put ultrasound pictures and bracelets, tags, baby shower stuff. Her nurse took weight and measurements nodding with a smile on her face. "If little one feels like it, we'll be able to get a good look. I promise Dr. Kenner is one of the best and will try her hardest to tell you what you're having." There had been so many different nurses during the four months of her pregnancy, knowing Annie would be here for the next five months brought her comfort. Although it'd only been about five minutes since they'd met Bella felt good about this. The usual questions were asked and the charts were handed in, then came the waiting.

A dark olive skinned woman walked in wearing a white lab coat. "Hi Bella, I'm Dr. Kenner, but you can call me Liz. We're gonna see each other a lot and I'd like you to be comfortable coming here. After you'll get set up with your delivery doctor, and make another ultrasound appointment." Shaking her hand Bella noted how kind everyone was here, a small town thing. "You ready to see your baby?" Laying down on the table she prepared herself for the cold jelly they'd rub on her. Each time it still gave her the chills, cold things weren't her kind of thing. "First things first, I'm gonna make sure your baby is growing right. If there's anything wrong we want to have an action plan and figure out what can be done." Having a doctor that cared made going to an appointment much easier. These doctors weren't allowed to say much to you, other than the obvious. "So how's living in Forks Bella? Your dad hasn't stopped talking about you since he found out."

"It's okay, the weathers not favorable. Hoping it'll be good for thanksgiving break." Next week would give her three days off of school and a day of shopping for little one, who'd hopefully have a name.

Liz chuckled moving the device around. "I know what you mean, my husband and I moved here a few years ago from South Carolina. It's safe for the kids though." Bella had no idea she was married, she was so young. Then again she was having a baby at seventeen. "I don't mean to pry, but does the baby have a dad in the picture?"

Sometimes she hoped Ryan would see his mistakes, get help and come to their rescue. However she was realistic and knew this job was going to be only for her. "No, he's not ever going to be in picture."

"I'm sorry, many moms come in here without support from anyone. We can set you up into a support group, it's free and available to expecting moms and the babies are allowed to come. Want me to give you the number?"

Support group didn't seem like her thing, talking about your feelings with strangers wasn't fun. "Why not?" At the same time she didn't know any other single moms and could find some allies.

Narrowing her eyes closer to the screen Doctor Kenner smiled. "It looks like your baby has decided to work with us today. Are you sure you want to know?"

"I'm sure." Many people chose to wait until the day their baby came out to know their gender. Or they had a party to tell people and find out along side their friends and family. It was something too exciting to wait another five months.

Snapping a picture Liz typed out three words. "Congratulations Bella, you're having a little baby girl."

Finally knowing made her heart swell even bigger. Nikkolette was her little girl, this was her daughter. Seeing her on the screen and getting to actually say her daughter made her want to jump up and down, run around screaming "I'm a mother to a little girl!" Wiping her tears away Bella couldn't even put into words how happy she was in this moment.

The first thing she did after scheduling her next appointments was call her mother and Charlie. Both were ecstatic, very different reactions. Renee's went along the lines of screaming and talking about shopping. Her dad's however was a little chuckle and a congratulations. Both were expected. She just wanted to call so many more people, there wasn't anyone else to call though. The second thing Bella did after her appointment was head to a store called "Bouncing Blessings." Now knowing she was having a daughter allowed her to actually buy something pink. There was so many pink things, dresses, blankets, onesies, shoes. Deciding on what the first purchase for her daughter would be was a much harder task than she expected. "What do you like better Nikkolette? These shoes, or this blanket?" Feeling the flutters from her little girl she leaned towards to the blanket. It was soft, a light pink on the inside and dark silk lining the edges. As cute as it was, it needed more. In her mind she could see it, her daughter's name. She wasn't sure how it was getting on that pink blanket, but it was somehow.

Purchasing something for ten dollars had never felt so good. Carrying the bag to her car it truly hit her. In five months she was going to be a single, teenage mother to a little girl. No matter how messed up that sentence sounded in her head (and out loud) she was so happy. Happy couldn't even describe it. Nikkolette was her daughter, and she was so proud.

** There it is! I'm not a mother so I don't know all the details but i've googled and tried to capture the details. Also quick side note, I will be on vacation from Saturday the fifth until the fourteenth, in that time I will write at least two chapters giving you much more to read considering there will be no wifi where I'm going. So once again thank you. To clarify also this isn't a story about Renesmee either. Leave me a review!**


	3. Chapter 3

What If?

**Are things _really_ better left unsaid?**

It was a scary thing living forever. The scary part being you build up this stone cold wall of making no connections to the many faces you meet and then it all changes one day. This human girl comes in with a sledge hammer and just destroys everything you've ever thought. Not only did her simple beauty draw him in, but the fact that there were no thoughts around her. As confusing as it was, the whole not being able to read her mind thing was peaceful. When they were together it was something normal and normal wasn't something that came around often for Edward. He hated thinking so much about this girl. She wasn't just this girl though.

"I feel bad, she said she didn't have many people helping her with this. Maybe we could get together a basket for her?" Rosalie suggested as they walked through the door. Not asking to go with her to the appointment took all of her strength during lunch. If it hadn't been for her brother's daggers she just might have.

Blocking her visions from replaying Alice conversed along. "Of course, since I already know she's having a girl we could go out tonight?"

Taking of the unnecessary sunhat Esme walked inside, welcoming home her children. "Whose having a girl?"

"This Bella girl, Charlie Swans daughter. In case you haven't heard she's knocked up."

Gently slapping Emmett's arm she furrowed her perfectly shaped eyebrows. "I have heard she's

'pregnant.' People are so rude in this town, the poor girls already got enough stress." Thinking back to her own pregnancy she remembered despite the happiness it was a hair pulling nine months.

Recalling the things he'd heard Edward noted how similar his mother and Bella's situations were. He hoped hers would end better than Esme's had. "Nobody around here can get anything straight. They're saying she only came here because she didn't know who the father was."

When the topic of the father came up at lunch Jasper could sense the fear. They all could see how her mind wondered back to a certain memory, hear her heartbeat pick up. "She's here because that man did bad things to her. I can tell you that just from meeting 'er today."

"He hit her," The pleading looks from his family caused an eye roll. "Charlie thought about it when he registered her at Forks. She told him it was only a few times but her father's a cop. I'm assuming it was more than that."

More than just their mother knew about that situation. Shuddering at the thought of being hit Rose excused herself from the living room. Still today it was a tough subject. All because a bottle of liquor and an uncontrollable desire to show masculinity she was stuck as a teenager forever. She was just glad Bella Swan had gotten away, protecting not only herself but her unborn daughter.

Nobody felt like talking about that was brought up. But they were all stuck on Bella Swan. And whether they knew it or not she was now a big part of their lives.

Never had she felt like such a bad mother, and her daughter wasn't even born yet. When the happiness and phone calls went down Bella let the fear and realization set it. The ultrasound pictures were hung on the fridge and on her wall, all she could do was stare at it. Realizing it was really happening made her feel sick. There really was a little girl growing inside her, and she'd make her appearance soon. It wasn't that she didn't want this baby, it was more the fact that this was another thing she'd be doing alone. Charlie was there, and her mother was a phone call away but Ryan wasn't going to be here to hold her hand or let her sleep in. She never expected it from him and didn't really care on her part. This was something her daughter was missing out on. When Nikkolette was fourteen and wanting to hear stories of her parent's love story what would Bella tell her? Your father pushed me down the stairs? He told me I was worthless and wouldn't be wanted? Those weren't happy stories anyone laughed at. They were the ones that shocked people into silence. Not once would she get to tell her daddy how much she loves him and laugh at his corny jokes; there wouldn't be any for them. Pregnancy wasn't just them playing house, dressing up the baby. This was real.

Wiping away the tear like she had done this summer, Bella knew now wasn't the time to feel sorry for herself. Being the abused pregnant girl wouldn't fix anything, feeling sorry for herself wasn't going to magically bring a good dad in the picture. "From here on out it's us two. We're gonna be okay Nikkolette, you and me."

Looking out her window the next morning she could already tell how annoying today would be. Not only was there a slight frost on the ground but everyone would be questioning her. "Great." Bella mumbled to herself.

The next day at lunch almost everyone acted like her best friend, wanting to know the gender of her baby. None of them even questioned how she was doing, if her health was fine or how she was feeling about it all. Angela was the only one genuine about the whole thing. Thankfully the topic moved onto the plans for tomorrow. "Are you coming Bella?" Mike wondered, a little too obvious about him wanting her there.

"Where?" When her brown eyes had caught Edward and the Cullens she tended to zone out of her "friends" conversations.

It was obvious by the way Jessica looked at Mike that she liked him. During one rare non baby related conversation she mentioned how they dated in the eighth grade for like a month. Ever since she broke up with him she had this giant crush on him. Things usually worked like that, not wanting what you have but when it's not yours anymore you realize how much you want it. "Me and Mike came up with the idea to have a fun weekend with a trip to the beach. It's cold but still fun, you might be better off staying home with the baby and all."

While there was no doubt she was viewed as a threat Bella knew there would never be anything for her and Mike. Not only did she not find herself attracted to him but he was too annoying and puppy dog like. All she could see when she looked at him was a giant fluffy golden retriever begging for your attention and love. "I might stop by for a little while, Nikkolette isn't born yet. Might as well have fun before she comes." After she was born there would be little time for fun. Baby, school, and sleep would be her three main concerns. A social life was something she gave up when she decided to keep the baby. For now that was still something available.

Taking a pen and paper Angela wrote down the information for Saturday. "It's on the reservation. Anyone is invited."

Before any more dirty looks could be shot to her the bell rung, alerting it was time for Biology. Bella mentally punched herself for being excited to share the news with Edward. All the feelings of excitement and desire were right in front of rage and being extremely pissed off. One thing was always said only to go another way. Coming here she expected herself to do better with the no attachments rule, yet here she was.

"You found out I'm assuming?" He asked, although he knew the answer. Not only did Alice spoil it, the entire Forks High School population was gossiping at Bella Swan's daughter.

Pulling out the picture she offered it towards him sitting down. Both knew what was going on in class most the time tuning Mr. Banner out and talking together. "Nikkolette. Your sister was right. Guess I won't be betting against her any time soon."

Scanning the sonogram picture Edward could recognize everything, he'd been to med school and worked in a hospital enough times. "Are you happy? I believe you mentioned wanting a boy?"

She chuckled, more to herself. "Overjoyed. Would of been happy either way. I did want a boy, and a girl. Then I thought it was a girl, then I thought it was a boy." Bella was indecisive, going with one thing only to change her mind ten minutes later.

"Regardless I believe a congratulations is in order."

The way he spoke made her want to giggle, always so formal and cute. "Well thank you." Playing with the shred of paper in her pocket she remembered what Angela had told her a few moments prior. "If you're not busy this weekend there's a get together at the beach. Everyone's going apparently and I figured you and your family count as everyone."

You couldn't deny that the Cullen family weren't really "apart" of the Forks student body. Nobody really tried to talk to them, or had an authentic good word to say. Feeling like she was in the same boat Bella wanted someone there with her. "We've been here almost two years and this is our first invitation believe it or not." Sharing a laugh he continued. "Where is it?" It was hard to believe he wanted to go to this thing. High school get togethers were never anything they did on the weekends.

"It's on the reservation. It'd probably be a little bit more fun if you were there." She felt like an idiot adding in the second part. That counted as flirting. Before dating Ryan she'd never had a boyfriend. He had been her first everything, she experienced everything new with him. For a while it was exhilarating. Going to parties, drinking, lying to her mom and actually being popular. Meeting him only happened because she befriended his sister Hayley during their sophomore year. The rest was history. Then five months after they were official Bella threatened to break up with him if he tried telling her what to do again. At first she let it slide, if he didn't want her hanging out with friends there had to be a reason, right? After a while she realized how unhealthy it was, how she didn't want that to be her relationship. That night was the first time he laid a hand on her, leaving a slight bruise on her cheek. He apologized and cried, telling her it wouldn't ever happen again. But that was a lie, it gradually got worse. Finally when she found out she was pregnant she put her foot down and told her mom. Now she had no idea how to trust another guy. Ryan was so sweet and gentle to her until that night, it wasn't the kind of man she ever saw him becoming.

Shrugging Edward made up an excuse. "It's a little crowded there. Maybe another time?"

Forcing a smile she nodded. "Yeah, of course."

The Friday school day came to an end with all the teenagers rushing to make plans for tonight. It was the weekend before Thanksgiving break and everyone was eager to get a few extra days off of school. Bella planned on cooking a simple dinner for her, Charlie, and two of his friends. Ever since she was a little girl she'd been cooking thanksgiving dinner, before that it was always some restaurant. Her mother went through a baking phase making her daughter try each of her "experiments" only ending in her hiding the remains in a napkin under the table. When she was old enough to realize TV dinners and chicken nuggets weren't normal everyday meals she took that part of life into her own hands. Apparently it wasn't a trait either of her parents carried, once again leaving her as the chef of the household. She didn't mind, over the years it had become a hobby more instead of a duty.

Standing by her red Chevy Bella made sure all her books were in her backpack. Getting a head start on any assignments would be her night. Mostly everyone was still talking in the parking lot, even the Cullens. All the way across the lot her eyes caught his golden eyes. She'd spent a surprisingly large amount of time studying his mysterious eyes. They changed a lot of the time, from a dark gold, almost black color to a bright golden color. Getting lost in them was all too easy, distracting her a few times from what was going on in class. Her heartbeat picked up sending actual butterflies into her stomach when he smirked. Sometimes he truly seemed into her while others he'd be distant and anti-social, making it hard to label.

Too lost in his eyes she didn't notice the screeching in the distance, slowly getting louder and louder. Hearing it as the noise reached the parking lot she saw the blue van sliding towards her. It belonged to Tyler Crowley, in the mornings people were always hanging out in it. After that thought registered she realized this van was coming fast and there was no way she could outrun it. Unsure of what else to do Bella wrapped her arms around her bump in a protective stance. If anything she needed to protect little one. Closing her eyes she waited for the sound of metal hitting together, and maybe some blood splattering. Instead she only heard a soft crunch and felt cold arms cradling her body. Opening her eyes she was shocked to see Edward Cullen holding her in the middle of the scene. One hand was supporting her and the other holding the van away from her. The entire scene was odd, he'd been all the way across the parking lot. There was no way he could've made his way to her in a mere five seconds. Feeling slightly woozy she let those thoughts go and remembered her baby. "Edward, I.. I need to go to the hospital."

"I know, we're gonna make sure you're okay. Both of you."

It didn't take long before she could hear the ambulance making their way to the school. She and Edward were still in the middle, waiting for the van to be moved so they could get to them both. People were yelling only her name, nobody probably even noticed him saving her. When the seven teachers and four students moved the van there was a stretcher already waiting for her. Although concerned for her little girl Bella was mortified, all eyes were once again on her. The attention she had the past few weeks was enough to last her the next twenty years. Being forced to wear a neck brace made her cheeks blush bright red. Only she was forced onto the stretcher, where Edward reassured them all he was fine and not injured at all, still riding in the ambulance with her. He'd refused to leave her side even upon reaching the hospital.

Arriving at the hospital she was rushed to the E.R where three different nurses checked her over. They asked questions upon questions, poking needles, using various machines and all in a rushed manner. She felt fine and could've cared less about herself at the moment. A kind older nurse named Jackie came in shooing the others out and actually explained what they'd be doing for not only her but the baby too. Bella hated to admit it, her mother was right. The people here were much kinder then Arizona. "Hello Jackie, I've got it from here." A melodic voice spoke entering the room. His skin matched the same kind of pale the Cullens had, his hair blonde and a kind smile. "I'm Doctor Cullen, you're Isabella Swan I'm assuming."

Of course the father was a perfect hot doctor she thought. "Bella, actually."

Nodding he took note of the name. His son had spoken about this girl quite a few times over the past two weeks, actually finding a friend in her. There was something about her, she was an average looking human. Not ugly but not drop dead gorgeous, brown hair and brown eyes. "Well according to this you should be fine, the baby also seems to be fine. We're just gonna need you to come in next week for an ultrasound. If anything feels weird or not right just come in and we'll take care of you." Flashing his white smile he shook her hand. It was freezing like Edward's had been. Feeling the coldness of his hand made her remember everything strange about being saved.

The nurses worked over her, removing all the wires that had been monitoring Nikkolette's small but steady heartbeat. Considering the events that occurred that day the staff had been baffled how they both came out fine. As Bella impatiently waited to be discharged a familiar pale face walked in carrying a bouquet of flowers. "My father told me you're okay."

Accepting the pale yellow carnations she nodded "For the most part. Pretty humiliated, nothing too out of the ordinary."

"Right, well just wanted to check in." If it had been aloud he would've remained sitting in the chair next to her.

Unconnected and free of wires she grabbed her coat, walking out she decided now was the time to bring up today. "Well I'd like to thank you. If you hadn't been there I don't know what would be going on. I can't believe you got to us so fast, I mean how did you do it?"

Perfectly he came up with the excuse. "What do you mean? Bella, you weren't that far from me." The entire thing sounded all too rehearsed.

"No, I remember you being all the way across the parking lot. Please don't lie to me." Answers were what she wanted right now.

Laughing he opened the door for her, this had to be done with. "You hit your head slightly. How about you go get some sleep and I'll see you Monday?"

Before she could bid a proper farewell and beg for more answers he was gone. Charlie had taken his place. She saw him a few hours before, he had practically pleaded to be with her the entire time. Instead Bella convinced him to sit in the waiting room. He wasn't the only one waiting out there, Mike along with three others bombarded her with questions. "Are you and the baby okay?"

Pretending to be a lot more worn out than she truly was Bella nodded with a yawn. "We're both good guys. Thank you for waiting, I'll see you tomorrow." Quite frankly she couldn't shake off how odd Edward had been acting about the accident. There was undoubtedly something he was hiding

The exhaustion didn't hit her until her body hit the mattress, unfortunately Renee wasn't like Charlie. Her sentences were more like a bunch of words rushed together, for five minutes she sat the phone down on her desk and let her just rant on. The moment came much later when Bella convinced her mother she was fine and just needed some sleep. That of course still wasn't enough for her, but there wasn't anything else to be done.

Her dreams that night seemed to be all too realistic. The past four months not only consisted of throwing up and gaining weight, Bella also had vivid dreams. It was common in pregnancy, still something that was hard to adjust to. Overall pregnancy was a hard thing to accept into your life.

The dream took place a few years down the road, Nikkolette as Bella had assumed was around four years old. They were playing out in a field together, a picnic basket down on the blanket. It wasn't just the two of them. Edward Cullen sat down, smiling and laughing along with them. All the details were down to a point, the way his eyes crinkled when he found something funny and even the way he was dressed. Jolting awake to the sound of thunder her hands found themselves upon her bump. Rolling to face the window she was shocked to find him standing there. Unsure of what was going on Bella turned her light on, only to find him not there. "This has got to stop." Turning off the light she tried, unsuccessfully to fall back asleep.

Having the house to herself was always nice, Charlie gave her enough space and he got his. Their relationship was based off silence and short conversations, those two things and having dinner at the diner together every Thursday. Before she came to his rescue a lot of the meals going into Chief Swan's stomach were either fast food or diner steak. Although he didn't show it often, he was truly ecstatic and thankful to have his daughter living with him.

Feeling just fine Bella decided to head to the beach, Angela said it was an all day event. So far her weekends had consisted of sitting around doing homework, sitting around all the time wouldn't do her much good. So, packing a bag of snacks and throwing on apporproate clothing for the day she made her way to the beach.


	4. Chapter 4

What If

**Thanks for your unconditional support xoxo. Please let me know if there are any questions! I've also decided to make the change to writing in Bella's POV. I find it easier when writing things like this to do in the main characters POV. Thanks xxxx**

Waking up in the morning my head felt better than I had expected it to. The bruises covering my legs seemed to be more prominent today, making me much more sore than I'd like to be. It didn't help that lately due to my weight gain and the baby inside me had started causing my back to hurt. I knew it would only hurt worse as the pregnancy progressed. My doctor explained my baby girl was a little tinier than they'd like to see at this point but they were hoping she'd get bigger soon. Although my peanut was healthy it still worried me to no end that she'd have complications after her birth from her size. As long as she was alive, I could work through the rest.

Walking down to the kitchen I realized I was the only one home. Being alone was something I had gotten used to living here. Charlie worked early, or until late hours of the night. Never could I anticipate when he'd be home or leave unless told. I didn't mind being alone though. My mom never really had a steady job as my dad did, so a lot of the time she was home. During my time being pregnant with her she worked as a waitress, so we had spent a lot of time together. For once it was nice to just be alone and get some breathing room.

Pulling out a frying pan I started making myself some blueberry pancakes. Breakfast foods had covered most of my cravings, didn't matter what time of the day it was. I tried to avoid the bacon and sausage, I wanted to be as healthy as possible. I couldn't avoid the unhealthy foods forever though. The slightly invisible stretch marks already had me worried. The cocoa butter was all the pregnancy websites told me to do, part of me thought it was working, the other part told me it was just because I hadn't exploded yet. Either way I had to admit for eighteen weeks pregnant I still looked pretty good. Munching down my four pancakes I debated what to do for the day, sitting around for ten hours alone probably wasn't the healthiest thing to do. Despite the weather being pretty crappy the beach seemed like a viable option. Sitting down talking to people wouldn't be too strenuous, the only other thing I could think of was going shopping in Port Angeles. After yesterday walking around all day probably wasn't the best idea.

Jumping into the shower I quickly got ready throwing on a pair of jeans and a pregnancy sweater my mom bought me before I got too big. In most of pregnancy clothing I didn't even look pregnant, my tiny belly hid well under certain things. Not only that but they were super comfortable. Comfort was exactly what I needed. Sliding on a pair of boots I scribbled a note letting my dad know where I was in case he returned home before I did.

Turning on my truck I realized how badly I'd need a job, soon. For now Charlie offered to fill my truck up, allowing me to focus my money purely on Nikkolette's needs before she got here. The money I'd saved up from babysitting over the past few years wouldn't last me forever, especially after the baby got here. However finding a job as a pregnant teenager wouldn't be that easy. Doing most of this on my own wasn't easy. Moments like this (aka the times I was overthinking) made me wish Ryan was involved. His family was rich, that wasn't why I liked him, but with a baby on the way having more financial help wouldn't be anything bad. Other than his sister his family didn't even know he was going to be a father. It was beyond me how they hadn't heard yet, I had been the town gossip.

Finding my way to the beach wasn't hard. Everything around here was easy to locate and if not asking a random person on the street worked too. The reservation was much prettier than Forks, in a certain way that was anyways. Most of the homes were small and quite frankly, kind of ugly. Most of it was trees and nature though. Driving to the beach was peaceful, I was thankful for the silence and the breeze. Knowing well enough once I got to the beach nobody was going to leave me alone. "Maybe we should have stayed home today peanut."

I was right. As if they'd been expecting me the moment my foot hit the sand Jessica and Mike were coming over with tons of questions. At all times with them I felt like a shiny new toy, being fought over for attention and barely left alone. With Edward and his family though I didn't feel like that. Thinking of him now only made me wish he was here now. Yeah, right about now I was regretting my choice. Answering their questions the three of us walked over to the fire where everyone was surrounding. There was a spot next to Angela on a log thankfully, sitting down next to her I had began to fade into the background. For a while I actually got to just sit and observe everyone's conversations. That was how I liked things though, it was a good way to see how people really were. If I hadn't been so set on changing myself I would've seen Ryan's true personality. At the time I had been too into partying and becoming a "better Bella." As our afternoon progressed we cooked hotdogs over the fire, people went swimming like idiots and more people arrived. Of course as the sun went down people started drinking. Alcohol and I didn't mix well, it took over me. One drink led to two, two became five, and five became endless shots. Looking back now I realized I had sort of became an alcoholic. My weekends use to consist of parties and drinking. The last time I drank I had been alone, mom and Phil went on a mini vacation for the weekend. During that time I was angry, so angry at Ryan for abusing me. Pissed off at myself for allowing it to happen. Let's just say there had been tons of broken beer bottles and crying that night. Not too long after I found out I was pregnant and knew the drinking had to stop.

Looking back at my life in Arizona I knew getting pregnant was actually the best thing that could've happened to me. I like to think if I hadn't gotten pregnant the drinking would've gotten worse and the abuse wouldn't have ever ended. All of that could've ultimately killed me. My little peanut truly saved me in every way possible.

More and more kids began arriving, most of them belonging to Forks High School. Three faces however I didn't recognize. I could already tell they were from the reservation by their skin tone. "Hey, I'm Jacob Black." Caught off guard I didn't notice him holding out his hand for me.

Taking it I offered him a smile. Not many people still shook hands these days, it was a nice change. "Bella Swan." Thinking over his name it finally came to mind. "Your dad and my dad are friends right? Billy?"

Smirking he knew exactly who I was. "Mhm, we use to play together when we were younger." Most memories of my childhood here were blocked out, so I felt bad telling the kid I had no memories of him. "We were pretty young, it's all good."

Talking to him was simple, he talked a lot allowing me to kind of sit back and listen. He was a year younger than me, enjoyed fixing up cars and not school. He had two twin sisters who were away at college and barely asked about my baby. I figured he either had no idea or wasn't comfortable enough to ask. Either way I was okay with it. "Do you need a ride home? It's getting late and I think I saw you were walking?" Angela had left and the only reason I ended up staying was because Jessica practically drunk begged me.

"That would be pretty great, thanks." We stood up off the log, walking to my truck in silence.

Behind us I could hear the crunch of the sand belonging to a girl, Jess. "Bella! Why are you leaving? I need a ride home later, you're like literally the only one not drinking but I mean you're pregnant so..."

Coming up with an excuse I motioned over to Jacob. "He's gotta be home in ten minutes, I promised I'd give him a ride. Sorry."

Looking him up and down she smirked with a hiccup. "Ohh, I see. Your date Edward Cullen ditched you, so you found another one. Good job Swan."

"The Cullen's aren't allowed here, you know that." He muttered to Jess. Rolling her eyes she looked over to me expecting an answer.

Ignoring the comment I spoke to Jess. "Look, I'll grab you in twenty minutes. If you're not ready then you'll just have to find another ride home." The last thing I wanted was her to drive home drunk. Personally I knew the dangers of it. "Come on Jacob."

Getting into my truck I could tell how uncomfortable the exchange between Jessica and I had made him. Either it was that, or the fact that I was pregnant. Most people didn't really know how to talk to me about it, or treated me different because of my age. Regardless I was still a person. For a while the only thing we discussed was his address. The closer we got the more I noticed how he'd open his mouth as if he wanted to ask something, but then he'd look out the window. Annoyed mostly because of Jessica I kind of rudely muttered "If you've got something to say please say it."

Chuckling he ignored how rude I'd been. "I was just going to ask why you're going back to pick up Jess Stanley. In case you haven't noticed, she's kind of a bitch."

Shrugging I dropped my attitude. "Well if you want an answer you'll have to answer my question."

"Bribing me? Hmm, I guess I want that answer pretty bad. Plus you're giving me a ride home. Shoot."

Asking it casually I made sure to not look him in the eyes as I asked. "So why isn't Edward Cullen allowed here?"

Biting his lip it was obvious he was unsure about telling me. I would've felt bad if I didn't want to know so bad. "I'm not really allowed to say anything.." Disappointed I let out a huff. "but for you I'll break that rule. Know it's only because you could totally make me get out and walk home in this rain." Sharing a laugh it was nice to have someone who could joke around here. "It's a legend, keep that in mind please or I am going to sound crazy. So the people around here are the Quileutes, and it's said we're descended from wolves. Crazy right? Anyways I guess the Cullen's are descended from the wolves enemies, these fanged creatures. Since they were enemies to my people they made a treaty to stay off our land and in return their secret wouldn't be exposed to the pale faces." Lightening the mood he laughed a little at the end of his story. After hearing that I only had more questions. "My turn. So why are you picking up Jess after this?"

Pushing aside any further questions as we pulled up to the little red house I came up with the quickest answer. "Because of experience let's just say. She's drunk and I don't want anything to happen to her, she's my friend and deep down she's a good person Jacob."

"Or maybe you're just the good person." Hopping out of my truck he winked "I'll see you around pale face. Thanks for the ride."

Jacob was a really good kid, he managed to make me laugh more in one night than I had in the past four months. He still was a little baby in my eyes, turning fifteen in two months but mature for his age. I could see us becoming good friends eventually.

Turning my truck back in the direction of the beach I drove back with many questions in my head. Although the story seemed to be a legend it still left me curious to the truths of it. Shaking it off I drove through the now pounding rain. Knowing Jess was standing out in the pouring rain made me a little happy, she deserved it.

By the time I arrived at the beach mostly everyone had cleared out, or at least were camping out in their cars. Jess was hiding out in hers, no heat or lights on. I took her keys to ensure she wouldn't get any ideas to drive it. Honking my horn she crawled out, her hair a mess and mascara slightly smudged.

Most of the drive home consisted of me pulling over to let her puke, then handing her a towel and driving. I wasn't in the mood to scold or comfort her, I'd done enough handling drunks in my days. Finally we arrived at her house, I told her I'd pick her up to get her car in the morning and making sure she got in okay I could finally get home and sleep.

Of course I didn't get to sleep though. My mind raced with questions about the Cullen family. I always knew they were odd and a little strange but after yesterday they seemed even more so. The way Edward talked about blocking me from the van, the whole story Jacob told me tonight. There was so much more to this family than anyone of us knew. And I had to find out.

When I did fall asleep it was around three in the morning and to the sound of the rain. It wasn't a good sleep, not only did I toss and turn all night but my dreams were anything but peaceful. I knew it was because my mind was centered around the "legend" Jacob had told me about earlier. There were the wolves running around the beach while Nikkolette and I played on the sand. The way they stood and looked after us reminded me of someone trying to protect a loved one. From the corner of the beach near the woods I looked out to see Edward Cullen staring at us. I sent him a generous smile, the one I'd been giving him on a weekly basis. While waiting for the return smile he stalked towards us with a diminishing grin. It wasn't the ones I'd grown to laugh along with, instead it was an evil smirk. I grabbed my peanut in my arms holding her in my arms, protecting her from the unknown. The closer Edward came to us I could see the fangs protruding from his mouth.

Scared out of my mind I awoke with a sweat on my forehead and a gasp escaping my mouth. Both my hands went down to my little bump, which oddly enough seemed bigger this morning. Knowing none of that dream was real made me feel just a little better. I knew Edward and he wasn't an evil person who would kill me and my peanut. My mind just conjured up a nightmare based on my knowledge. But it didn't change the fact that there was something going on in this town. Remembering what had to be done this morning, I called Jess. She wanted her car to be in the driveway before eight so her parents would never know she had a drunken night. I could only hope this would make Jess realize I only wanted to be a friend to her. There was no way I wanted to go after Mike.

On this Sunday in Forks it was sunny for once. Today was the first day since I'd been living here where it was genuinely nice weather, and I knew exactly how to celebrate. While unable to sleep I'd taken it my responsibility to do some research. Down in Port Angeles there was a book shop that sold books about legends of the Quileutes tribe. Not only was there that book store, but also some baby shops. I'd hit two birds with the same stone. I knew Charlie would never let me go out there by myself so I figured inviting Jess and Angela wouldn't be a bad thing. Some "girl time" would actually be healthy.

Pouring his cup of coffee Dad was sitting at our table reading the newspaper. He did this a lot, in fact he did it every single morning. "What're you doing up so early Bells? You got in pretty late."

"Yeah, there was a get together at the rez. Jacob needed a ride home so I gave him one." Party wouldn't sound so good, distracting him with Jacob was a good idea.

Moving the newspaper away from his face he was pleasantly surprised. "Well that was nice of ya. So are you two buddies now?"

Were Jacob and I friends? "I guess. Speaking of friends, Jess Stanley and Angela Webber wanted to take me shopping out in Port Angeles today. Make a girls day of it. Would that be okay?"

"Of course, going to pick up some things for the baby? Do you need some money?" Charlie was obviously excited about me actually going out and doing something.

Shaking my head I grabbed two pieces of bread. "No, I've got all the baby stuff covered dad. I'll call and let you know when we start heading home." Popping the bread into the toaster I felt kind of bad for lying a little. "Have fun at work."

Throwing my hair up into a pony-tail I figured Jess would want some time to get ready before going out for the day, so getting ready would be a moot point. The drive to her house didn't take long due to the fact that traffic genuinely wasn't too busy before eight and the town was small. Peaking her head out the window she had on a black hoodie and no makeup. It was a strange look for the usual extremely dolled up Jessica I'd gotten to know. Looking around she dashed out the front door and into my truck. I had to hold in a chuckle; the scene looked like a spy movie. To her this was a life or grounded situation. "Morning Jess. How ya feeling?"

"Please talk a little quieter, can we just get my car?" Hangovers were one thing I certainly did not miss.

Driving towards the beach I decided with the windows down and the toast I made gone now would be the best time to ask. You could say I buttered her up. "If you and Angela aren't busy today I was thinking we could go shopping in Port Angeles. Go get some baby clothes, do some shopping, and maybe dinner. I think it'd be...fun." Handing her back her keys I hoped for a yes.

Thinking it over for just a moment she nodded "Yeah, we'll leave around ten. Ang and I will pick you up. Thanks Bella."

Despite having a rough relationship with Jess I had to admit I was excited about today. Not only would I get that book, but hopefully some new things for the baby. Hopefully spending some time together would prove to her I just wanted to be friends.

Ten came soon enough and like Jess had said they were sitting in my driveway. Thankfully Angela's car was a little bit nicer than mine, it apparently was a present for straight A's. The most I ever got for good grades was a shopping trip with my mom. Growing up we never had too much money, as soon as I was old enough to get a job I was working. I always was babysitting after I took the CPR classes at the hospital, and never turned down the chance to mow a lawn or walk someone's dog. Every five dollar bill I ever earned from the age of seven went into this little jar called the "Bella fund." It was something mom and I came up with to teach me responsibility and to save up for college. Now it was the "Nikkolette fund."

Finally arriving in town we stopped to grab a quick lunch to go. Apparently my idea of going shopping was perfect. The first weekend of December there was a winter formal, I had no idea but dances here were a big deal. "Come on Bella, you have to go. It's gonna be fun, you won't be able to go to prom probably so come to this! Please!" Jess begged me from the dress shop. We'd already been to three different shops. Hopefully soon I'd be able to run off.

"I don't know guys, my money needs to go towards her. I can't spend it on a dress I'm gonna wear once." Dances were never my thing, I'd been to one in my entire high school career. The only way I got through it was with a confidence boost of Jack. And Jack wasn't a boy.

I was shocked to see Angela was excited for the dance. We were a lot alike so I assumed she too would hate the idea of high schoolers getting together and dancing to tacky music for five hours. Instead she tried to get me on board with the whole thing. "I promise it won't be as bad as you think. We could all have a sleepover or something after too. Just find a cheap dress, and we'll sell it after."

There wasn't really a reason at this point for me to say no to them. "Fine. I hope you both realize I'm gonna have a horrible time."

Squealing Jess ran over to the plus size rack looking through the shiny old dresses. "You're gonna look so pretty! And to make up for it I'm gonna buy Nikkolette something pretty too!"

Trying on dress after dress was torture. There were so many. After each I had to come out and show the two what I was wearing. None of them were right according to them. They both already found their dresses. Jess decided on a blue sleek fitted dress, the top was cut so her boobs were hanging out. Angela had set her mind on a simple gray gown that hugged her chest but was loosely fitted at the bottom. Each of them paid less than twenty dollars together for their dresses leaving me determined to pay less than ten. I still needed to buy for Nikkolette, buy my book and dinner later tonight. "Guys this is impossible." There was one last dress hanging on the wall. "This is the last one then I am done trying on dresses!"

Stepping out Jess started clapping her hands. "That's it! That's the one Bella! You can barely even tell you're pregnant. You have to buy it!"

Looking in the mirror I actually really liked the dress. It was flowy and dark blue, there was a fabric rose on the right shoulder, leaving my other shoulder bare. My bump was only visible if I smoothed it down against my stomach. Not only did I feel good in it, but it was ten dollars and comfortable. "Yeah, I guess I'm gonna buy it." The girls showered me in compliments as we walked to check out. "Since we spent a good two hours here we're going to get some clothes for little one next."

Surprisingly it was really nice to just spend some time with Jess and Angela. They helped me pick out cute things for the baby, they were being supportive and helped me to ignore the dirty looks. Shopping pinks and purples was so nice in comparison to yellows and whites. There weren't many shops for babies, the ones there were, were full of cheap cute things. For now I only a few necessities, leaving me to still afford a crib, car-seat, changing table, stroller, and so much more. Reading the price tags only made me realize how expensive babies were.

We didn't realize how late it was as we wondered around town. While stopped in a little boutique and my friends were distracted, I knew now was the only time I'd be able to sneak off to the book store. "Hey guys, I have to go pick up something at this store across the street. Why don't you guys head to dinner and we'll meet up." Neither gave up to much of a fight as we exited the store and parted ways.

The book store wasn't anything special, other than the fact that the books were based around the tribe and employees were all Quileutes. I'd done my fair share of googling, trying to get any information without having to ask Jacob again. I was sure the books would behold some more legends and lead me to some answers. One I had come across was titled Legend of the Slapping Beaver by Patty Sanchez, thankfully the store kept an online record of the books they carried and this one just so happened to be there. Purchasing my book didn't take too long, perks of being the only customer. Thanking the man I walked out into the alley. In the light it didn't look to sketchy to get to, however in the dark...

Bundling up in my jacket I realized how long I spent actually in the place. The cold November air seemed to be just a little colder than it had been any other night. Normally the alone thing was ice, not tonight. Never had an alley seemed so long in my entire life, and their had been plenty of them. I knew there was a reason why my conscious was on edge tonight. From behind me I could hear the rustle of men playing around. They had beer bottles in their hands, not only could I smell it but their progressively louder laughs weren't normal laughs. Taking steady breathes I knew this could be nothing, then again it could be bad. "Hey sweetheart, you wanna beer?" Ignoring him I walked faster, keeping my eyes towards the street.

"Come on gorgeous, we won't hurt ya."

The more they talked to me the more obvious it became that this wasn't just some guys messing around. It was impossible to ignore them, three more cornered me from the front. I was now surround by drunk men. Biting my lip I thought what I had to defend myself if it came to that. Other than a wallet there was a hair tie and shopping bags. "Here take my money."

One guy got all up in my face, breathing the smell of alcohol. "We don't want your money.."

My breathing picked up as I struggled to come up with an escape plan. Taking the heaviest bag I swung toward the closest guy. With my lack of muscles not much was done, other than the laughter. "I'm pregnant, please." The whole pleading pregnant girl think would work on anyone else, but these were drunk men. It was worth the shot. They still came closer. If it counted for anything I wrapped my arms around my belly. Over the short period I'd been pregnant, I had protected my peanut more than anyone else probably ever had.

When all hope seemed lost bright lights shined in front of me. The group that had huddled around me turned around to see what the commotion was about. A screech scared off some, leaving only three men standing near me. Squinting it was hard to see who was, but after a moment there was only person who it could be. The hair gave it all away. "Get it." Nothing more needed to be said for me to get in the shiny silver Volvo. From the inside I watched trying to figure out why the three remaining men were so terrified of him. It didn't matter, all I knew was once again he saved my daughter. And I had even more questions. Burning out he pulled out into the flow of traffic, earning some pissed off drivers. His hands gripped the steering wheel and his stare was deadly. "W-what the hell was that? How did you know I was there?"

"I should go back and rip their heads off." Well, that wasn't an answer.

Calming down pissed off guys wasn't really my thing. "Uh, that's a bad idea."

Obviously my slight effort didn't do much. Edward seemed to be talking to himself more than me at this point. "You don't know the vile and utterly disgusting thoughts going through their minds."

"And you do?"

Rolling his eyes he shrugged, there was slight humor yet still anger. "It's not hard to guess." Not much else was said during the short car ride other than being asked where I needed to be. Angela and Jess were undoubtedly worried out of their minds.

Getting out of the car to enter the restaurant I saw my friends exiting with bags in their hands. It was obvious they had ate without me. I hoped they'd be up for stopping at a drive-through before reaching Forks. It had been a few hours since there had been anything in my stomach and Nikkolette was getting pissed off. Like I already predicted they did in fact eat and were just waiting for me. The conversation came to a halt seeing Edward follow behind me. Brewing up a simpler story than "Bella almost got murdered in a creepy alley" he invited me to eat with him. By the look he was giving it was obvious there would be some explaining. Finally.

** Hope you enjoyed! I'm also looking for a beta! Leave a review please and thank you! More reviews inspire me to write. **


	5. Chapter 5

**What If **

The little restaurant on the corner of the street was evidently called _Bella Italia. _It was a cute little restaurant, dimly lit and to my surprise pretty busy for a Sunday night. The walls were covered in strange artwork, if it could even be called artwork. Behind where we sat I noticed a human anatomy poster like they hang in doctor's offices. As strange as it was I really liked the place. We would've been waiting a little longer if Edward hadn't slipped the waitress a fifty before we were even asked to wait. The Cullens weren't afraid of flaunting their money. They were all always dressed nicely, I don't think I'd seen them wear the same pair of jeans. So far I'd only seen Edward and Emmett's vehicles but I could only assume the rest each had their own car.

We both remained quiet, waiting for the other to say something. Eventually I gave into the silence hoping if I was kind I would get what I wanted. "Thanks for uh saving me back there."

"It seems to be becoming a habit." I watched him play with the straw of his water. Not that I was a creepy person, but I'd been watching him the entire time. Not once did he take a sip of it, he didn't even munch on the buttery bread-sticks our waitress had brought over.

Setting down my menu I rolled my eyes pushing my hair behind my ear. "Well in case it isn't obvious I'm sorta a bad luck magnet." I didn't like to feel bad for myself, it didn't get you anywhere plus the old people did enough of that. If I let my situation get to me it would define me, no longer would I be Bella Swan. Not being known as Bella was the last thing I wanted. Our waitress came over with my refill of coke and a notebook in hand. She was tall, probably around five foot ten without her hooker heels on. I couldn't exactly figure out what her hair was doing, so I didn't try. Her makeup was a little too dark for her face consisting of black everything and bright purple lipstick to match her purple shirt. Overall the girl "Becky" reminded me of a cat. Looking through the menu there were so many different choices but sticking to what I knew (and what was cheapest) I settled on the Eggplant Ravioli. Not taking me by surprise at all Edward ordered nothing. Being around him made me feel a lot fatter than I was even while I was knocked up. "You're seriously not going to get anything?" Shrugging I didn't let him answer. "Maybe I'm just going crazy or something but I need some answers Edward. And I will _not _take some bullshit answer, it's not a good idea to piss of the knocked up girl, yet here I am."

Him taking my anger and trying to be convincing pissed me off even more. However I couldn't be completely enraged because of his adorable chuckle and smile. I had come to the conclusion that since everyone else in the entire world, including our waitress, was head over heels for him than I could be to. There was nothing wrong with looking and liking what you saw. At this point it wasn't even just his looks drawing me in. Over the course of three weeks he'd befriended me in a way nobody else at Forks High School wanted to. When he smiled causing his eyes to squish up and become squinty I just wanted to reach across the table to take him into a hug. When he was irritated or stressed about whatever Edward Cullen stressed about he'd pinch the bridge of his nose, or how his bronze hair would be slightly messier in the morning. Every single day after lunch it'd be a little more tame due to Alice yelling at him and fixing it during lunch. For all I cared he could be butt ugly and I would still have a little crush on him. Yes I admitted it, there was a little school girl crush hiding behind all my bitter feelings. My hormones had already begun to be crazy, one day I wanted something and the next I didn't. Right now though I just wanted some freaking answers. "Yes, no, maybe. To get to the other side of the road. Uhh, 1.7724538-"

It took a little more than I liked to hold back a smile. "You know I don't mean the square root of pi. I'm not asking you how you got to me so fast the other day, or how you knew where I was tonight. I'm telling you I deserve an answer. Maybe I'm seeing this one sided but I consider you a friend Edward and I promise if you don't want me to tell anyone, I won't. I_ don't _break promises."

Looking around he scooted in towards me a little closer. "I can read minds Bella." It was obvious he was waiting for my laughter or something.

Nodding I believed him, there was no reason for me not to. So far a lot of crazy things had happened to me in Forks and hearing my friend was a mind reader didn't make the top of the list believe it or not. "Tell me what I'm thinking."

"I would if I could read your mind, yours is the only one I can't read. But everyone else in here, I can." Pointing to a table he explained each of their thoughts, most adults in the room were thinking of sex with the exclusion of one strange server thinking about his cats. "You believe me?"

Grabbing his cold hand I stared into his golden eyes. "Of course I do. Why were you here tonight though? It wasn't just a coincidence?"

Rubbing his thumb against my hand felt nice. "After Friday I realized how much I do care about you. I don't want to be away from you."

"Then don't."

I guess everything changed over that dinner. Things changed for the both of us. Although some questions had been answered not all of them were. The Cullen family was different, they weren't human. Some things Edward said only confused me more about what we were and what I even wanted. My feelings were a big jumbled up mess, he was the first guy I'd had a crush on. Ryan and I just sorta happened. There wasn't that time between our meeting where we were just friends flirting, just relationship first. The only other guys I ever had crushes on were fictional or lived in Hollywood and were twenty years older than me. These feelings were all genuinely new to me. How funny was it being the pregnant girl and I'm just having my first crush. With Edward I could forget about everything in a sense. Sure the growing bump protruding from my hips was there reminding me every second of the day that I screwed up, but with him it wasn't just about that.

Those were the things I thought about sitting in his silver Volvo. I felt insane, here I was in Forks, Washington for only four weeks and this was my life. Debating where I wanted things to go with Edward while figuring out what he was. All of this was overwhelming, the mystery of feelings and these people had me drowning. For whatever reason it was I was very grateful he couldn't' read my thoughts or this car ride would be way more awkward. I felt beyond relieved he didn't feel like talking either. Today had been a long day filled with so many unexpected surprises. When I decided to go to Port Angeles this morning I wouldn't have guessed what would happen.

Arriving into town around ten o'clock there seemed to be a lot more commotion than what Forks was known for even during the day. The police station was even busier, all cars were in their parking spots along with the ambulance. "My dad's still here, do you think we could stop by?" Without a second thought he pulled in, noticing Carlisle's car as well. Before we could both get out of the car our father's were seen walking out of the station. My father talked about the Cullens a few times since I've been here. After school one day when they weren't there and everyone was gossiping about them I became curious as to what my father thought. He took me by surprise speaking very highly about each and every single one of them. Since moving here just a few years ago they'd caused no trouble, and Carlisle had contributed so much to the town and hospital. The wife, Esme, didn't work but was an overly nice lady always volunteering at the woman's shelter and school functions. Esme was the only Cullen I still had yet to meet. "Dad, what's going on?"

Charlie wasn't one to get emotional, ever. In the seventeen years I'd known him I never saw a single tear shed from his eye, and smiles were rare. Both of us were like that. Tonight though there was a certain sadness radiating off him. "You remember Whalen? Met him a few weeks back?" While having dinner we'd briefly met, it was mostly him talking about things I had no recollection of. "Well, uh he was found dead in his boat this afternoon."

"I'm really sorry dad." Looking over to the two silent Cullen boys I could tell they were having a silent one sided conversation. During our dinner Edward explained how his entire family knew making things sometimes awkward, but for the most part it came in handy. Now seemed like one of those times. "Do they know what happened?" I tried to be as sensitive as possible but I wanted to know more about it. This hadn't been the first death, most likely murder, around here lately. Dad had been talking about it non stop, for a small town sheriff like him the most action they ever got was stopping someone from drunk driving. Compared to Phoenix the crimes here were a piece of cake. This job was something he loved though, even if it wasn't the most exciting.

Instead of my father answering Carlisle took it his duty to. "We're leaning towards animal attacks."

Knowing how upset my father would be I decided now would be best to leave. Making eye contact with Edward I began walking to my fathers car. When I was a little girl with pig tails and barely able to see over the window, riding in the cruiser was the most fun I could have. During afternoons where it was just the two of us on an empty road he would put on his sirens making me giggle. The older I got the more embarrassed to even be seen near that thing. Now over the whole teenage brat thing, it was just a car full of memories. "I'm just gonna head home with my dad, him and Whalen were good friends. I just wanted to thank you for, for everything. Being honest with me is included in that."

Grabbing the jacket from his car he handed it to me, our hands touching for a moment. "Of course. Try not to get into too much trouble on your way home."

Rolling my eyes I slapped his arm. "Goodbye Edward."

There wasn't much to be said in the car with my father. He tried to make conversation, asking me what I bought and how I ended up with Edward Cullen. The tone he spoke in only let me know how much he was hurting over this whole thing. Despite how upset he was he still tried to put an effort into our time together. I never appreciated Charlie enough. He did so much for me in the littlest ways. When we got inside I once again apologized for what happened and gave him an awkward hug. None the less he appreciated it.

When I was done putting away the clothes and toys I purchased today the only thing left staring at me, was the book. My eyes were drooping and begging me to just lay down and rest. While my ankles were barely keeping me on my feet I fought against my body. "Sorry peanut, mommies got a lot to figure out." Sitting down at my computer desk I started reading. Reading was impossible for me at eleven thirty at night. Every sentence I read I would end up going back over and re-reading it. It was an interesting book though, filled with pictures depicting the legends making it a little easier to understand. The clock hit one in the morning when things started getting interesting, their was an entire section dedicated to "the cold ones." It was exactly what Jacob had been telling me about earlier. A few hours ago I told myself when I finished the book I could sleep, with my new found information I was unable to.

Typing in "The Cold Ones" into the search bar many things popped up. None of this was my specialty so I was just clicking whatever I found. Among the pages I'd been clicking one word kept popping up. Apotamkin, basically it meant vampire. All the pictures depicted different versions of vampires around the world. Further reading revealed that for the most part, vampires were the same in every culture. Cold, strong, fast, immortal. Rubbing my eyes I realized how crazy all of this was. At three in the morning I was sitting on my computer looking up vampires. "Mommy is pretty crazy, Nikkolette."

There was no way in hell I would be going to school in the morning. Although it had been my choice to stay up for over thirteen hours, it wasn't healthy for my baby. I hated missing any school time knowing after I had the baby I would be spending a majority of time with Nikkolette.

All through the night my body tossed and turned, the images I'd seen on my computer haunting my dreams. Although I completely dismissed the idea of Edward being a vampire my mind kept conjuring up images of him sucking the blood from my neck. In a weird way I was turned on thinking of his cold lips on my body. By the time I fell into a deep enough sleep to rest well it was almost five in the morning. The last time I'd gone to bed this late was the night I found out I as pregnant. Never had I cried so much in my life. Believing there was a tiny person growing in my stomach scared the shit out of me and knowing whose baby it was, scared me even more.

Waking up around noon the following day I didn't feel as refreshed as I should. Ignorning the urge to crawl back into bed and sleep more I made breakfast and prepared meal plans for the next two days. I'd only be in school one day this week, which meant I'd only be seeing _him_ one day. I didn't know how I truly felt about that. Part of me knew I was disappointed by that and the other part (the mother and reasonable part) told me to stay away and it was a good thing.

Doing the only thing I knew I was good out I got out a piece of paper and a ball-point pen. Sitting down in the old worn down chairs in my kitchen I wrote down all the reasons I needed to be alone.

A.) Focus on school

B.) Nikkolette didn't need men coming in and out of her life.

And lastly there was something Edward Cullen was hiding and I didn't know if it was safe for me to get involved with.

From here fourth it was decided. "We're gonna stay away from him peanut."

**Okay, so if anyone can tell me how to get a Beta I'd appreciate it. I had a hard time with this chapter due to my week and the events so the end is rushed but here it is. Thanks guys. **


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